The movie Ah! My Goddess is about a human being falling in love with a goddess. At first that sounds pretty amazing, but it’s not exactly perfect. Goddesses are sent from heaven to grant a deserving human one wish. The goddess Belldandy was sent to grant Keiichi a wish. What that wish was, we do not know, but over time the two fall in love. After Belldandy doesn’t return to heaven her sisters Urd and Skuld come looking for her. For a while things seem great, the four of them live together on earth. Things changed one night when a mysterious man came to earth in search of Belldandy.
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Belldandy runs to the man, she is so excited to see him she beings to cry. She explains to Keiichi that it is Celestine her old teacher. Celestine leans in and kisses Belldandy which causes her to lose consciousness. When Urd, Skuld and Keiichi get Belldandy back to the house they realize that her memory of Keiichi has been erased. Celestine and Morgan, a fairy princess, needed Belldandy’s help. Celestine wanted to rid the earth of all suffering. He felt that the gods weren’t doing their job. Celestine felt that the gods were discriminating other races and allowing them to suffer. Celestine brings Belldandy to the Judgment Gate, the gate mixed species couples must pass through to prove their love. He explains that no couple has successfully made it through the gate then he destroys it.
Celestine’s idea was a good one, but he tried to achieve his goal in the wrong way. Wanted to get rid of human suffering doesn’t make him a bad guy, what makes him a bad guy is interfering with Belldany’s life and almost destroying the earth. It must have been extremely hard for Belldany to choose what side she wanted to be on. Being a goddess she didn’t have much free will. She could not decide which human she got assigned too and higher powers could control her; Celestine was able to erase her memory and if he wasn’t stopped the higher gods were willing to vaccinate Belldandy. In the end she had to decide who she loved more; Celestine or Keiichi. In the end she chose Keiichi and to live on earth forever despite all the suffering and death. Belldandy and Keiichi go down in history as the first couple to make it through the Judgment Gate.
Was Celestine’s approach really a bad one? It almost seemed as if this was the only choice he had in trying to accomplish his goal. His goal had good intentions, but the goddess’ prevented him from pursuing his goal, so he had to do it his own way. Another part of your blog that I have different views on is how Belldandy didn’t have much free will. That is one thing that confused me very much in this film and brought up a lot of questions. It would make sense if the gods/goddess’ didn’t have free will and the ability to chose because they are supposed to do what is right, but that whole idea conflicts with the whole film. Celestine is a god, but he is choosing to try to remove all the negativity in people’s lives. He is making that choice. The goddess’ are choosing to stop him because they think it is wrong. Belldandy chooses to save earth and its humans because she admires how they go through every emotion, good and bad, and still continue to go on with life and mature. I think that she had a hard time deciding what to do because she lost her memory and didn’t remember what human life was really like, not because she is a goddess and couldn’t choose.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I think Celestine had good intentions and felt as if he had no other choice but to start the world anew without suffering. Still, his actions would have brought about more suffering and he did hurt others for what he thought was the greater good. Celestine wasn’t really an evil character to me, just one who felt he had a duty to the ones he was assigned to look after. As far as Belldandy, her choices were limited in what she could do. She felt obligated to Celestine because he was her previous mentor, but associating with him brought her into situations she didn’t agree with. She was forced to go through with a vaccination of the virus that could have horrible consequences. However, she definitely had free will when she was with Keiichi because she chose to be with him even if it meant becoming human.
ReplyDeleteCelestine’s idea was not at all a good one, he wanted to get rid of human suffering yes, but any way you go about a goal like this while in turn harming other humans or coercing them into doing things they don’t want makes this a bad idea. I could say I want to end all world hunger, but I am going to do it by killing all the hungry people in the world. Or I can end every problem in the world by destroying it. See, you can not solve a problem by destroying the person who has a problem, you solve a problem by actually solving the problem. What makes him a bad guy is interfering with other people’s lives and imposing his own ideals on all of society. Even if he is right, not everyone may agree with his solution.
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